


Another Ridiculous College Story

by childofsummer



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-03
Updated: 2018-05-26
Packaged: 2018-06-06 03:31:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6736318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/childofsummer/pseuds/childofsummer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clarke just cannot get her shit together, especially in front of a certain brunette.<br/>Lexa is somewhat charmed by this blonde lunatic. Even after she almost gets them arrested.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. "The Incident"

**Author's Note:**

> I will try to keep this updated as often as I can.

Clarke is drunk and currently surrounded by hundreds of screaming college students. Raven is holding onto her arm for balance while the crowd surges around them. Octavia, Bellamy and Lincoln are in the center of the crowd wearing ridiculous amounts of leather with their faces covered in ‘war paint’. They are taking turns victoriously screaming at the crowd and grinning manically when the crowd roars back. 

Everyone is celebrating the Ark State Grounders victory against the hated Weather University Mountain Men. The celebrations tonight are even bigger than usual because the Mountain Men lost to the Grounders in four different games throughout the day. The Men’s basketball team beat them this morning, followed quickly by the Ladies’ Hockey team. The afternoon saw Octavia gearing up and crushing the enemy in soccer and Bellamy captained the football team to a mighty victory with Lincoln.  
The Mountain Men suffered a serious blow today and the Grounders are absolutely reveling in it. The chanting crowd begins to break apart into an upbeat group determined to party well into the following morning. This gives Clarke the opportunity to drag Raven through the sweaty masses, towards their friends so they can celebrate together. They greet Bellamy and Lincoln with a cheer and the men respond by pulling both of the girls into large bear hugs and hollering like lunatics.  
Clarke pulls away from Lincoln with a laugh “Hey Lincoln, where’s O?”

Lincoln turns around and using his height advantage spots her over the crowd. “She’s still with Anya and Lexa, but it looks like they’re coming this way.”

Just as soon as Clarke registers what Lincoln has said the crowd parts and Octavia flings herself into the arms of her boyfriend. Anya and Lexa move into the gap that Octavia has vacated and Clarke can’t help but stare. The combination of the war paint and leather makes them look savage, fierce and quite frankly like they could easily disembowel a fully grown man. Clarke is simultaneously terrified and aroused. She knows that she is staring and, judging by the matching smirks the girls have, they are aware as well. Thankfully any further awkwardness Clarke is sure to emanate is interrupted by Raven stepping in front of her and handing her a drink.

“Thanks Raven.” Clarke gulps down her drink and grimaces at the burn of the cheap alcohol.

“Come on Princess, let’s dance!” Raven yells, as she drags Clarke towards the speakers.

\----

At four AM the party starts winding down, so Clarke and Raven find Octavia and Lincoln and start walking towards the campus dormitories and their beds. Clarke is focusing all of her energy on keeping her feet on the foot path, so she almost doesn’t notice the people that have stopped ahead of them. She recognizes Lexa and Anya almost immediately, but it takes her drunken, sleep deprived brain a minute to work out who the other people are. Her lips curl up in disgust when she realizes that Cage Wallace, the smarmy bastard, and his monster of a girlfriend Lorelei Tsing have dared to show their faces in Grounder territory. She vaguely remembers the other four girls from watching Octavia play soccer against them earlier in the day.

Octavia notices the group ahead of them as well, so she marches right up and loudly addresses Lexa.

“So Cap, what are the Ice Queen and her frigid handmaidens up to? Here for some more humiliation?”

Lexa allows her jaw to relax enough to smirk when Lorelei and her minions all respond at once to Octavia’s jab. “They are leaving. As are we.”

Lexa goes to move away, but Lorelei forcefully grabs her shoulder to stop her. The sudden silence is deafening and everyone seems momentarily frozen in shock and fear. Lexa glares at her rival captain with such venom that Clarke almost feels pity for the other girl.

The steel in Lexa’s voice when she speaks is lethal. “Remove your hand from my arm immediately, or I will remove it from yours.”

Lorelei actually seems to falter at the seriousness of Lexa’s threat and pulls her hand back to safety. Unfortunately Clarke lets out an inappropriate giggle at that exact moment and the look on Lorelei’s face turns murderous. Clarke stands her ground when Lorelei gets up in her face and laughs again on purpose when the Mountain girl threatens her.

“How dare you laugh at me, you little bitch.” Lorelei sneers and shoves Clarke forcefully.

Somehow Clarke maintains her footing and, without thinking, swings a solid punch right into Lorelei’s face. The crunching she feels when her fist connects with the other girl’s nose is sickening and Clarke visibly gags. Lorelei falls back onto the pavement screaming, with blood gushing everywhere.  
Cage strides forward with his fist pulled back ready to attack Clarke, but she is saved by Lincoln tackling him to the ground. The boys hold nothing back as they connect their fists to the other’s body and face as many times as they can, beating each other bloody.

Clarke’s attention is pulled back towards the rest of the group when Raven shrieks. There is a girl on Anya’s back pulling on her hair, while Lexa is gracefully beating a girl into unconsciousness. Clarke moves into action when she sees why Raven cried out. One of the Mountain girls has her on the ground and is kicking her repeatedly, and because of her leg brace she can’t get up to defend herself. Octavia is valiantly trying to get past the other remaining girl to get to Raven, but the girl won’t go down, no matter how many times Octavia punches her.

Clarke breaks into a run and slams into the girl on top of Raven. They both topple over and Clarke comes out on top. The girl sits up and Clarke head-butts her as hard as she can, feeling a warm spray of blood down her face as her rival’s nose breaks under the pressure.

Before she can make another move a strong set of arms wrap around her and haul her off of the ground and the crying girl. Her head is swimming from the alcohol she has consumed and from the force of her head colliding with another person, so it takes her a moment to work out what is going on.  
When she finally refocuses her vision she is being roughly shoved into the back of a police car with Lexa and Anya. Both girls are still wearing their leather and face paint, but now they have smears of blood on their faces and through their hair. They look truly savage, but the way that they are looking at Clarke makes her think that she looks so much worse.


	2. Aftermath

Clarke startles awake and her entire body immediately resents being conscious. She groans loudly and tries to recall where she ended up falling asleep. She sits up and stretches her arms up over her head. At least, that’s what she tries to do, but one of her arms won’t do what she wants. She forces her eyes open so she can see what is holding her left arm down, only to find that she is currently handcuffed to a very pissed off looking Lexa. 

Lexa, who is still wearing her leather and face paint and blood, and is currently glaring at Clarke.

“Well it’s about time that you woke up. My arm was falling asleep.”

Clarke glances back down at their joined hands and gulps. “Shit I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to fall asleep on you. Honestly I think I might have just passed out.”

Lexa just hums a response and glances out across the room they are in. Clarke can see that Lexa’s other arm is handcuffed to the rail of the bench that they are sitting on, so they can’t go anywhere. A quick look around tells Clarke that Anya and Octavia are in the same handcuff situation, on the other end on the long bench they are seated on. She sticks her foot right out and manages to nudge Octavia, to get her attention.

“Hey O. Where is Raven? And Lincoln? Are they alright?” She whispers loudly.

“Lincoln is in a holding cell and Raven is in the hospital. She’s alright, but she took a few big hits, so she’s going to be sore.” 

Octavia twists around on the seat so that she can face Clarke properly and grimaces when she gets a good look at her friend’s face. “Griffin, babe, I’m not really sure how to tell you this, but you look like you just crawled out of a fresh grave.”

Octavia’s blunt comment draws a huff of laughter out of Anya and Clarke sighs loudly before attempting to run her hand through her hair. Her fingers get tangled in her blonde curls almost immediately and she manages to pull out three leaves and a twig. She frowns at the small pile of nature that she has piled up next to her and wonders where and when she even managed to get that much crap in her hair.

Clarke closes her eyes and leans back against the uncomfortable chair praying to every God that she knows that the pounding in her head will go away soon. She can feel the blood that has dried on her face flaking off and making her skin itch. The nausea that she feels is getting steadily worse the longer she remains awake and her throat is so raw that it feels like she is trying to swallow glass.

She rolls her head towards Octavia and opens her eyes briefly. “You know that is actually a fitting description for how I feel right now.”

Clarke grumbles in annoyance when Lexa snaps to attention beside her and manages to knock her off balance. Clarke opens her mouth to tell the other girl off, but she is interrupted by two officers making their way over to the four girls. Clarke recognizes the male officer as Nathan Miller’s father and thanks her lucky stars that she made a good impression on this man when she was at his house for a movie night.

“I am Officer Miller and this is Officer Byrne, she will be escorting you ladies to the restroom so that you can all freshen up a bit before we take your statements. I trust that you will all do as you are told and won’t try to cause any trouble.” 

Officer Miller nods in acceptance at the enthusiastic chorus of ‘Yes, sir.’ that he receives and leaves the girls in the care of Officer Byrne so that he can get started on his paperwork. Officer Byrne moves efficiently and the girls are all quickly stripped of their handcuffs. They all rise stiffly off the bench and follow the blonde officer through the police station towards the bathroom. When they reach the bathroom the girls all rush to the sinks to start scrubbing the blood, sweat and grime off their faces, while Officer Byrne situates herself in the doorway with her arms crossed. 

Octavia groans in pleasure when the first splash of water reaches her face and she makes quick work of scrubbing the blood and paint off, so that she can duck into one of the stalls behind them to relieve her bursting bladder. Clarke, meanwhile, is frozen staring at her reflection utterly horrified at her appearance. No wonder, when she was first pushed into the police car Anya and Lexa had looked at her like they did. There is blood spattered all over her face, smeared through her hair and trailing down her neck to cover the top half of her sky blue singlet. She has the beginnings of a large and nasty black eye that she isn’t even sure that make-up will cover and her knuckles are split and throbbing.

“Hurry up, Miss Griffin.” Officer Byrne states impatiently.

Clarke looks over to the other girls as a fresh faced Octavia ducks into a bathroom stall, while Anya and Lexa are mostly through with scrubbing themselves off. Clarke sighs deeply and just kind of drops her face into the sink, so the tap can run water directly over her skin. The water runs a brilliant red as Clarke rubs away most of the blood and she sighs in relief when Octavia picks up some paper towel and helps her. With Octavia’s assistance Clarke is cleaned up in no time and the brunette whistles in sympathy when her, now glaringly obvious, black eye stands out starkly against her fair skin.

“Holy shit Clarke, does that hurt?” Octavia questions while also trying to poke her throbbing, purple bruise.

“Jesus, yes. Of course it hurts, O.” Clarke huffs while pushing the brunette out of poking range.

“That is quite impressive, Sky Girl.” Anya laughs as she walks past the blonde towards the door.

“I suppose we’re almost a good match then, General.” Clarke scoffs when she spies the deep scratches on Anya’s cheek.

Lexa places a gentle hand on Clarke’s shoulder and for a moment the blonde is reminded of her awkward crush on the gorgeous green-eyed girl. “You fought well Clarke, you should wear that with pride.” Lexa whispers before dropping her hand and joining the other women at the door.

“All right ladies, let’s go get your statements so we can get this mess sorted out.” Officer Byrne declares before marching out the door.

Clarke takes a deep breath and mentally shakes herself off before following the others, wishing above all else that she could just go home, brush her teeth and sleep for a year.

\----------------------------

When Clarke, Octavia, Anya, Lexa and Lincoln are finally released it is well into the afternoon and all five students are famished. Since there were no witnesses to the fight and everyone involved had no previous incidents on their record, they were released with a warning for good behaviour and a threat for community service if it happened again. Clarke is trudging slowly along behind the rest of the group when Lincoln suggests that they stop for food at a diner he knows nearby. The thought of food has the blonde practically salivating and, much to everyone’s amusement, she has them almost jogging to the diner.

Clarke bursts through the door and draws the gaze of the waitress, who is eyeing the group of leather clad teens warily, even more so when she realises that the blonde has an alarming amount of blood on her shirt.

They are sitting at a large booth, with the waitress placing their food in front of them, when Octavia gets a text from Monty.

“So Monty and Jasper just picked up Raven from the hospital. They ran into the Ice Queen on the way out and apparently Clarke did a real number on her face.” Octavia states happily, while receiving a high-five from Anya.

“Bitch had it coming, but I didn’t expect Clarke to be the one to finally do it.” Anya laughs.

Lexa looks at the blonde sitting next to her contemplatively. “Why did you do it?” she asks out of curiosity.

“I don’t take well to people threatening me or my friends. Even less when I’m drunk apparently.” Clarke replies with a shrug and a mouthful of food.

“Ooh Lexa. Did you see Clarke take down that chick that was kicking Raven? It was badass! She slammed her into the ground and when she tried to get up, Clarke head-butted her so hard that she went down screaming.” Octavia is bouncing in excitement and Lincoln has to put his hand on her shoulder to calm her down.

“I did actually and I have to agree it was quite badass.” Lexa laughs.

“As I said before, I protect my people.” Clarke responds with a rising blush.


	3. The Dropship

It is currently three days after ‘the incident’ and Clarke’s black eye is currently sporting a wide range of bright purples, blues and greens that she cannot cover up. She tried. The rumor mill has been working around the clock and according to Octavia people are saying that the six of them fought around twenty people and Clarke put someone in a coma. 

Not that Octavia bothered correcting anyone either.

Clarke is distracted from studying her eye in the mirror by her phone buzzing. She frowns in confusion when she reads ‘1 new message from The Commander.’ There is no one in her contact list with that name and the only person she has ever heard of nicknamed The Commander before is Lexa. Holy crap is this Lexa. No, that’s not possible she never gave her number to Lexa and she never got the brunette’s number in return. Clarke turns and glares at Octavia lying on the floor throwing grapes at Raven’s mouth.

“O! Do you want to tell me why I have a message from The Commander?” Clarke asks in a panic.

“Well I gave her your number while you were passed out at the police station,” Octavia smirks up at the blonde “I also put her number in your phone for this exact reaction. Besides it’s obvious you have a huge crush on her.”

Clarke gapes in horror at the two grinning girls sitting on the floor “I don’t!” she shrieks.

“Oh you do. It’s kind of distracting.” Raven chimes in with a laugh. 

“Fine, I might have a bit of a crush” Clarke concedes “but nothing is going to happen. Lexa hardly knows I exist.”

“The girl obviously knows you exist, she just messaged you.” Raven states completely deadpan. “Also she would have to be blind or ignorant to miss the heart-eyes you’ve been sending her way for the last few months.”

“I do not have heart-eyes for Lexa. Also she saw me beat two people to a bloody mess, I think I blew my chance with her after that.” Clarke cringes.

“Clarke, sit down and take a breath.” the blonde does as Octavia tells her to. “She also beat the living daylights out of someone that day, so she’s not really in a place to judge. Now read the damn message before you start panicking over something that might not even be an issue.”

“Right. You’re right.” Clarke pulls out her phone and unlocks the message screen.

“Of course I’m right.” Octavia snarks while Raven laughs.

Clarke is silently texting on her phone so the two brunettes go back to throwing grapes for the other to catch. They have a terrifying level of skill for this particular game and they are distracted from a near record breaking streak when Clarke clears her throat.

“Hey guys, can I panic now?” Clarke asks with a stricken expression.

Octavia sits up straight and studies the blonde. “Why? What did she say?”

“She wants me to go and get a coffee with her this afternoon, to thank me for backing up her and Anya the other night.” The blonde states in a rush.

Octavia jumps up off the floor with a squeal to tackle Clarke in a crushing hug. Unfortunately she trips on her previously discarded shoes, which sends them both toppling onto the floor and Raven. 

“So when is your date with the Commander?” Raven asks from the bottom of the pile when Octavia finally stops squealing.

“Guys, it’s not a date! But I’m meeting her in two hours and I have no idea what to wear.” Clarke pouts. “Please help me guys. I want her to like me.”

“Clarke, come on, the girl has seen you with a mask of dried, human blood. Pretty sure, as long as you don’t show up with the bodies of small woodland creatures in your purse, you should be good.” Raven scoffs as Octavia jumps up off the floor and marches to Clarke’s wardrobe.

“You also drooled on her while you were using her as a human pillow and she still asked you out. So there’s that.” Octavia laughs.

Clarke visibly pales “Please tell me you’re joking right now O.”

“Afraid not Princess.” Octavia states as she starts throwing clothes into yes, no and maybe piles.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Clarke spends an embarrassing amount of time, frozen in front of The Dropship Café, trying to force herself to go inside. She can see Lexa sitting inside at a small table, typing away furiously on her phone, with a steaming mug placed within easy reaching distance. Clarke takes two deep, fortifying breaths and pushes open the door to go inside. She walks straight up to the counter and orders a latte, which she pays for and receives, before looking over to Lexa. Thankfully the brunette is still distracted by her phone so Clarke takes another second to collect herself. She drops gracefully into the seat across from Lexa with a wide grin and notes with pride that she managed to startle the other girl a bit. 

Clarke is glad that she isn’t the only one slightly off balance at the moment.

“Holy shit Clarke! Your eye looks awful.” Lexa stares wide-eyed at the blonde seated across from her.

“Wow, thanks for that. I’d say the same but you actually look really good.” Clarke shrugs and fights to hide a grin when she spies a slight blush working its way up the brunette’s neck.

“You know, I was going to buy you that coffee as a thank you.” Lexa frowns at her blonde companion.

Clarke rolls her eyes as she starts tearing open three sugar packets for her drink. “So just buy me the next one, Commander. I promise I won’t say no.”

Lexa’s mouth drops open a little and she stutters “You want to have coffee with me again?”

“Well, yeah. You’re smart, pretty and can hold your own in a brawl. Why not?” Clarke winks at Lexa as she stirs the sugar in her cup and outright grins when Lexa flushes again. Who knew the Commander got flustered so easily.

“Clarke, did you get a concussion when you got your black eye?” The brunette asks, concern lacing her voice.

Clarke pauses with her cup almost to her lips “No. Why?”

Lexa stares incredulously as the blonde takes a large gulp of her drink. “Well, you just put salt in your coffee.”

Clarke forces down the mouthful of poison she accidentally put in her mouth and tries not to gag or react to the awful taste. How could she possibly admit that she was so nervous about her non-date with Lexa that she didn’t realize she was salting her coffee. 

She decides to go with “It’s a salt kind of day.”

Lexa’s eyebrows are almost at her hairline and she asks “What the hell does that mean?”

Clarke doesn’t respond. Instead she starts chugging her drink and doesn’t stop until there is nothing left in her cup. She is praying that Lexa doesn’t notice how much her eyes are burning.

Lexa is currently staring at the blonde, with her mouth hanging open. “I have no idea if I should be impressed right now, or scared for your health. Either way, though, that was pretty hardcore.”

Clarke stands up and leans over the table to get in Lexa’s space. “I’m glad I’ve got your attention. Text me. We should do this again sometime.” 

Clarke lets her fingers trail over the brunette’s as she strolls out the door. She doesn’t see Lexa’s shaky inhale as their hands touch, nor does she see the full blush and smile that works its way over the other girl’s face. She is too busy sprinting back to her dorm room to vomit up her tainted coffee.


	4. The Muse

The ‘incident’ is now months past and people only bring it up when Lexa, Anya and Octavia’s soccer team plays against the Mount Weather team. Naturally the Grounders are ridiculously proud of their Commander and her Generals, and they have been drawing record crowds of people hoping for a repeat fight. It very nearly happened once, when a game finished, and Clarke accidentally bumped into Lorelei Tsing on her way to find Octavia. The brunette snarled at the blonde and Clarke made a sarcastic comment about how her nose wasn’t quite straight anymore. They were pulled apart by their teams and separated before any more damage could be done.

Of course Octavia thrives on the fact that Clarke has an honest-to-God nemesis. Clarke finds it endlessly exhausting, but Octavia lives for the potential violence the two could cause.

Lexa and Anya have become regular occupants of Clarke and Raven’s dorm room. Anya swears it’s only because they have a massive room and a never-ending stash of all of her favorite snacks. Lexa says Anya has reluctantly come to enjoy their company, especially Raven’s wit and dry humor. Anya knows the real reason Lexa is around so much, but for now she’s keeping that to herself. She doesn’t want to put any unnecessary pressure on her friend, besides she thinks that their awkward blundering around each other is endlessly hilarious. 

Lexa is on her way to Clarke’s room now, to be her next model, for her end of semester major work. Clarke has already painted Anya, Octavia, Raven and Lincoln onto separate canvases. The topic that she has been assigned is ‘Alternate Realities’ and after a lot of second-guessing and false starts Clarke decided to base her works on a post-apocalyptic future, where mankind has reverted to a more primitive state, but still with the potential of technological advancement.

So far, she has painted Anya as a War General wearing a crown of thorns, with a face full of war paint and riding a mutated, two-headed horse. Octavia has been painted as a foot soldier, running through the forest with her sword raised and yelling a battle cry, with the shadows of hundreds of other soldiers in the distance. Lincoln has been painted as a healer, on his knees administering aid to a fallen soldier. Raven’s likeness is standing in a clearing, the chaos of battle surrounding her, while she pieces together an explosive device, her leg brace much more primitive and in Ravens’ words ‘kinda badass.’

Lexa’s painting will be the final canvas and Clarke is very pleased with how far ahead she is on the project. She has an idea of how she wants to portray the brunette and she hopes it works out like she pictures it in her head. She already has a lot of the background work done by the time Lexa reaches her room, so she is pretty confident that it shouldn’t take too long to get done.

Lexa knocks and waits patiently for a response, which comes muffled through the closed door. “Lexa, how many times do I have to tell you? The door is open, just come in.”

“Clarke, you know I think it is impolite to just walk into someone’s living space without warning.” Lexa states as she comes into the room.

“Yeah, but Rae and I honestly don’t care.” The blonde pouts a little at how stubborn the brunette can be.

“Well that is clear, because even with warning there is no guarantee that Raven will have clothes on.” Lexa flushes a little at admitting this to Clarke.

Clarke just cackles in response and positions her canvas and materials where she wants them.

“So what do I have to do?” Lexa asks a little nervously.

“Well I already have the background done, so I just have to paint you into the scene.” Clarke states as she moves Lexa towards the old armchair in the corner of the room. “So sit in this chair, cross your legs and look angry.”

“What do you want me to do with my hands?” Lexa asks once she gets herself into position.

“Oh, right, hold this.” Clarke passes her a ruler off her desk.

Lexa leans back casually and tries her best to glare at Clarke. She has no idea how Anya, or even Octavia managed to sit still long enough for this, it’s only been around twenty minutes and her leg is asleep and her face is sore from glaring. Clarke hasn’t said a word for almost fifteen minutes and Lexa is pretty sure that this is the longest stretch of time that she has spent in silence with the blonde. She is rather enjoying how peaceful it is, even though her butt is asleep now too. She is fascinated by the look of sheer concentration on Clarke’s face. The blonde has her brows slightly furrowed and Lexa can see just the tip of her tongue poking out of the side of her mouth.

Clarke is absolutely in the zone with her painting. Lexa is an excellent model, because she has hardly moved an inch since they started. All of the basic outlines are done and she has Lexa’s hands and face completed. They will need a touch of extra detailing but on the whole they are ready to go. She is so focussed on getting the slope of Lexa’s neck right that she blindly reaches out for her glass of water. She puts her brush down for a second to properly compare her work to her model and raises her glass for a sip of water. What she is not expecting is for Lexa to suddenly jump up out of the chair and half fall towards her. The sudden movement startles her so much that she spills her water right down the front of her shirt.

“Holy shit! Lexa, are you alright?” Clarke asks after taking a deep breath to try and calm her heart rate down.

Lexa is rather embarrassed about stumbling out of the chair like that. She didn’t realise just how completely numb her lower half had gotten.

“You, uh, were about to drink paint water.” The brunette eventually mumbles.

Clarke looks down at her shirt and at the cup on the ground, and sure enough, there is filthy water all down her now alarmingly see through shirt and a paint covered cup under the easel.

“Oh, well thanks. I didn’t even realise.” Clarke attempts to fight back the blush working its way up her neck. Although she doesn’t feel nearly as embarrassed when she looks back to Lexa and finds the brunette’s gaze directed straight at her virtually exposed chest.

She clears her throat and Lexa’s eyes snap directly to up to hers. It’s kind of endearing how quickly red tints her cheeks and she starts glancing frantically around the room looking for a way to escape.

“Um, you should probably get cleaned up and I should go. I have to study. I’m going to meet up with Anya.” Lexa declares as she starts frantically collecting her things.

“Yeah, that’s fine. I only have the body to finish off and I have the general outline so I can do that without you here. Thanks again for helping me out.” Clarke smiles as Lexa seems to calm down again.

“I am always happy to help. See you around Clarke.” Lexa says with a wave and a small smile before she is out the door.

Clarke rolls her eyes at her weird friend and sits back down to finish her painting. It takes her the rest of the day and well into the night, but she is happy with her work and absolutely ecstatic to actually have finished something well ahead of time for once.


	5. Down to Earth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So in one week it will be two years since I last updated this story. I'm so sorry I left it hanging for so long, but after everything that happened with Lexa I couldn't even bring myself to open the word document I had it saved in let alone write for it.  
> However I can't handle leaving things unfinished so I wrapped it up.  
> For anyone that is somehow still here for this I hope you are living your best lives.  
> Much love.

Clarke gathers Octavia, Raven, Anya, Lexa and Lincoln into her room the next afternoon for a look at her finished works. None of them have seen any of the paintings finished as they are. Raven only saw hers because she snuck a peek while Clarke was in the shower and it wasn’t finished yet.

“Well you all know why you’re here, so I’m not going to hold you up. I just wanted to thank you all again for helping me with this and I hope you like what I’ve done.” Clarke announces as she dramatically pulls off the sheet covering the five canvases.

Octavia gasps as the works are revealed and everyone else is stunned into silence. They all step forward and study their painted images, before taking a turn at viewing the others.

“Griff these are amazing. I mean, I knew you were good, but this is ridiculous.” Octavia slings an arm over the blonde’s shoulder and pulls her into an awkward side hug.

“Yeah, we look fricking badass! When the showing is over can we hang these up in here?” Raven shouts from the other side of the room.

 “Thanks guys. I’m glad you like them. I worked pretty hard on this.” Clarke smiles bashfully at her proud friends.

“Clarke, I very rarely feel that people deserve compliments. But this is well earned. You have done well and I am truly impressed.” Anya puts a hand on Clarke’s shoulder and gives it a small squeeze.

Well that’s done it. Clarke is definitely getting emotional now. Anya has never complimented her on anything except her black eye, but Clarke is pretty sure that was all sarcasm. Thankfully everyone has somewhere to be so they all start heading out fairly soon,

“These are awesome Clarke. I can’t believe you’ve already finished yours and I only have one set of my photographs done. All of my models keep pulling out.” Lincoln groans in exasperation.

“Well, now that I’ve finished mine, I can help you out with yours.” Clarke grins. It’s always easier to just show up and do what you’re told, than have to plan and execute an entire piece.

“Really! That would be fantastic.” Lincoln sweeps her up into a hug and squeezes her until she laughs. “I’ll text you the details of when I have the studio. You’re the best!”

“Yeah, yeah I know.” Clarke grins at the tall boy as he practically runs from the room in excitement, yelling something about trying to book the studio this week.

Clarke turns back from the door to find Lexa completely engrossed in the image of herself painted as the Commander. The blonde takes a moment to study the other girl while her attention is focussed somewhere else. Lexa’s hair is falling in loose waves down her back and Clarke is suddenly struck with the urge to run her fingers through it. Without even realising, she has taken two steps closer to the other girl and her hand twitches up from her side, attempting to reach for the brunette.

“Thanks again for helping me with this. It’s a lot easier to paint a model than to completely make up a face.” Clarke awkwardly folds her hands into her pockets as she gains Lexa’s attention.

“Do you really think I look like this?” Lexa asks, vulnerability shining in her eyes.

“Like what?” Clarke looks between Lexa and the painting and for the life of her, she can’t see a difference.

“Powerful…” Lexa pauses and looks back at the painting of herself “… Beautiful.”

Clarke can feel her cheeks starting to burn but she forces herself to make eye contact with Lexa. “I’ve always thought you were beautiful.”

Lexa takes a nervous step closer to the blonde. “I think you are quite beautiful as well.”

“Yeah?” Clarke gulps as she realises just how close the brunette has moved and she glances down at her lips.

“Yeah…” Lexa breathes as she moves to close the gap between the two of them.

The door bangs open and they startle apart before anything can happen and Clarke is staring daggers at her roommate. Raven is staring at her phone and she is completely unaware of the moment she just ruined. Lexa panics and rushes from the room before Clarke can stop her. Raven finally finishes whatever she was doing on her phone and she realises that the blonde looks ready to murder her.

“What did I do?” Raven raises her hands in surrender.

 

* * *

 

 

Clarke has been sending messages to Lexa all week and she is yet to receive a response. She is ready to tell the brunette how she feels about her and the thought is equally terrifying and exciting. The radio silence is starting to drive the blonde up the wall though and she has decided that after this session with Lincoln she is going to track her down in person. Lincoln managed to book the studio for the entire afternoon and he is hoping to finish his project in that time.

She makes her way into the art building and wanders down to the studio. She is considering writing another message for Lexa when she walks into the room and notices the brunette sitting on the floor as Lincoln rushes around setting up lights. Lexa glances up as she walks in and they both freeze, unsure how to proceed through this awkwardness since their almost kiss. Clarke’s heart stutters in her chest and she briefly wonders if it’s too late to turn around and run. What if Lexa ran because she doesn’t feel the same way?

“Clarke! You made it.” Lincoln strides over and pulls her into a hug. “Thank you again for doing this. I’ve had so much trouble trying to lock in models and I’m running out of time.”

“Not a problem. I’m glad to help.” Clarke smiles at him as he loops the camera strap around his neck. There is no way that she can get out of this now.

“Let’s get this over with then.” Lincoln announces causing Lexa to stand up.

He guides them over to where he wants them to be and does a quick double-check of the lighting system. It is a completely white set and he had asked them both to wear all black clothes and the contrast is striking. He wanted the colours to be as contrasted as possible because it is a black and white photography shoot.

“Alright, are you guys ready?” Lincoln uncaps the lens on his camera and looks expectantly at the girls.

“Sure what do you want us to do?” Lexa asks.

Lincoln has them dance with each other, without any music and to begin with Clarke can feel the awkwardness radiating off the both of them, but eventually the movements start to feel more natural and she is actually having fun. Lexa is smiling at her and if her stomach swoops when the brunette has her arms wrapped around her, well no-one will know.

“Okay, now we’re at the part that had the other models pull out.” Lincoln looks apologetic. “I need you to keep doing what you’re doing, but I need you to undress each other down to your underwear.”

Lexa blanches. “We have to undress each other? I thought the nude stuff would be us by ourselves.”

“My module is Sensuality and the Human Form. I’m sorry I thought I told you.” Lincoln looks incredibly sorry.

“It’s fine, we’re all adults and you need this for your final grade. We can do this.” Clarke does her best to sound confident and reassuring but her voice is pitched higher than it should be and she knows it. Lincoln had told her in advance that she would be posing nude by the end of the shoot and she is confident in her body and he showed her some of his concept art so she knows it’s tasteful, but she had no idea that Lexa would be in the same boat.

Lexa nods in defeat and Lincoln breathes a sigh of relief. “You guys are the absolute best and at least you’re both friends. It should be less awkward than stripping with a stranger.”

“Yeah, of course.” Lexa shares a wide eyed look with Clarke and the blonde just shrugs in response. It’s definitely not the way she imagined they would see each other naked for the first time but it will definitely be a good way for her to broach the topic of her feelings later.

They spend the next hour crawling around on the floor painstakingly slowly peeling layers of clothes off of each other and they have both given up the pretence of being uninterested in each other. Lincoln thinks they are acting fantastically and they are finally at the last uncomfortable hurdle. They have to get completely naked and they have to use their limbs to strategically cover their private areas from the camera.

Lexa is straddling Clarke’s lap and the camera is flashing as the blonde sits up so their faces are a breath apart. Lincoln is calling out where he needs their hands and hair to be and they are doing their best to follow his instructions without looking ridiculous.

Clarke’s heart is racing and she is hyper aware of exactly how naked they both are. There is a faint blush creeping up Lexa’s neck and Clarke can feel that they are both breathing heavier than usual. Their faces are close enough that Clarke can feel each exhale from the brunette’s mouth and she can see that her pupils are blown wide as she looks down at her.

Lincoln comes over and adjusts Lexa’s hand placement before moving back to take the last of the photos. Clarke nearly groans out loud as the brunette delicately places her palm over her nipple to shield it from the view of the camera. They lean closer together and their mouths are only millimetres apart when Lincoln calls out to tell them that he has all of the shots that he needs.

He flicks off the set lights and it is like a bucket of cold water is thrown over the top of them. Lexa quickly rises out of Clarke’s lap and moves towards her clothes and the blonde moves to follow her. They both get dressed in awkward silence as Lincoln babbles about how great they were and the marks he hopes his assignment gets. Once they are dressed they leave Lincoln to finish packing up his gear and move out to the hallway to walk back to the dorms.

“I think we need to talk about what just happened.” Lexa breaks the silence that was pressing down on them both and Clarke is thankful that it doesn’t look like the brunette is going to run away from her again.

“I agree. Do you want to get a coffee or should we go back to my room?” Clarke starts to mentally map where the closest café is to the art building.

“I’d rather not talk about this in public and no offence but Raven and Octavia are always at your place and I definitely don’t think this conversation should take place in front of them.” Lexa starts leading them down the path through the gardens.

“Fair enough. What do you suggest then?” Clarke bumps the brunette’s shoulder with her own and delights at the way it seems to fluster the other girl.

“We can go back to my room. Anya has a late lecture today so we will have some peace to talk.” Lexa pulls a key from her pocket as they reach her dorm building and Clarke follows her inside and up the stairs. The brunette unlocks the door and Clarke trails in behind her not even surprised that a room occupied by Lexa and Anya is almost militant in its tidiness.

They both stop and face each other, suddenly at a loss for words. Lexa opens and closes her mouth a few times and Clarke decides to throw caution to the wind. She takes two steps to bring her right up into the brunette’s space and threads her fingers into the loose brown curls, like she has wanted to for months. She stops a breath away from Lexa’s lips and waits because as much as she wants this she desperately needs to know if the brunette does too. She only has to wait for a second before Lexa crashes their lips together and Clarke feels her body come alive at the action.

Eventually Clarke pulls back and she takes in the sight of Lexa with kiss swollen lips and mussed up hair. “I really like you.”

“I really like you too.” Lexa’s smile is soft and shy and Clarke’s heart melts at the sight.

“I would really like to take you on a date.” Clarke loops her arms around the brunette’s waist and grins as Lexa’s eyes crinkle in delight.

“I would really like to go on a date with you.” Lexa leans in and places a chaste kiss on Clarke’s lips to reinforce her statement.

“How about dinner tonight?” Clarke grins and Lexa nods in agreement. Well it looks like they are going on a date.

 

* * *

 

 

Five years later at their wedding Lincoln gifts them with an album of all of the photos that never made it into his assignment portfolio and they both marvel at how easy it is to see how much they adored each other even then. Of course at some point in the night Raven and Octavia end up with their hands on it and they tease the new wives mercilessly when there is a photo with a boob in it. Eventually Anya gets it back off them but even she can’t help but chuckle at the antics of Clarke’s best friends.


End file.
